New TeamMate Survey

Reflecting mounting
pressures to focus on the strategic and emerging risks facing their parent
organizations, hundreds of internal audit functions around the world are
including assessments of such risks in their risk assessment processes,
according to findings from the 2016 TeamMate Global Audit Technology Survey,
released today at the 2016 TeamMate User Forum, being held at the JW Marriott
Grande Lakes hotel in Orlando. TeamMate, part of Wolters Kluwer Tax &
Accounting, is the world's most widely-used internal audit management system,
with more than 100,000 auditors at over 2,500 organizations using the solution
globally.

"The majority of our nearly 600 survey respondents
report that their risk assessment processes include formally assessing
the strategic risks of their organizations," says Mike Gowell, General
Manager of TeamMate, part of Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting.
"What's more," Gowell adds, "70% of our 2016 survey respondents say
they are either highly or reasonably confident that
their internal audit staffs would either identify any major changes in
the organization’s strategic risk profile or would be informed of any
such changes on a timely basis."

Another key finding is the
growing focus on emerging risks. Already 55% of TeamMate's 2016 survey
respondents report having a formal process to identify, assess and
report on emerging risks, and 44% provide their audit committees with
a regular report on internal audit’s assessment of emerging risks. More
than half of the survey respondents who do not currently include
emerging risks in their risk assessments plan to do so within two
years.

In another key finding, 55% of TeamMate's 2016 survey
respondents report having a formal process to identify, assess and
report on emerging risks, and 44% provide their audit committees with
a regular report on internal audit’s assessment of emerging risks. More
than half of the survey respondents who do not currently include
emerging risks in their risk assessments plan to do so within two
years.

TeamMate's 2016 TeamMate Global Audit Technology
Survey, conducted in July and August, focused on three related and
interdependent audit processes — risk assessment, audit planning, and
reporting on these activities to management and the audit committee.
The goal of the survey was to compile useful data on both current and
anticipated practices in these key areas, which audit leaders around
the world are seeking to fine-tune to better address the dynamic nature
of their rapidly changing risk environments. Survey findings will be
particularly helpful to board members, audit committee members and
internal auditors seeking to develop best practices for their internal
audit functions and parent organizations.

Growing focus
on continuous risk assessment

Although 57% of TeamMate's
2016 survey respondents report conducting an annual audit plan with
some periodic updates, a significant number (40%) are updating their
audit plans either monthly or as audit work is completed. With an eye
toward the future, however, 5% of 2016 respondents are already
conducting totally rolling audits and another 28%anticipate moving to a
rolling audit plan over the next two years. What's more, nearly half
of TeamMate's 2016 survey respondents indicate that they either assess
risk on a continual basis or combine an annual risk assessment with
some form of continuous risk assessment. Looking at respondents who
currently assess risk on either an annual or periodic basis, 56%
expect to move to a more continuous risk process within the next two
years.

Other key themes of the 2016 TeamMate Global Audit
Technology Survey:

Assessment of external macro risk
factors such as systemic, political or macro-economic risks